Icon depicting the Emperor Constantine and Fathers of the First
Council of Nicaea 325 A.D. holding the Nicene Creed in its 385 A.D. form.

Concepts
to Ponder

UB 101:0.3 Religion,
the conviction-faith of the personality, can always triumph over the
superficially contradictory logic of despair born in the unbelieving
material mind. There really is a true and genuine inner voice, that " true
light which lights every man who comes into the world. " And this
spirit leading is distinct from the ethical prompting of human conscience.
The feeling of religious assurance is more than an emotional feeling.
The assurance of religion transcends the reason of the mind, even the
logic of philosophy. Religion is faith, trust, and assurance.

UB 101:2.5 Science
ends its reason-search in the hypothesis of a First Cause. Religion does
not stop in its flight of faith until it is sure of a God of salvation.
The discriminating study of science logically suggests the reality and
existence of an Absolute. Religion believes unreservedly in the existence
and reality of a God who fosters personality survival. What metaphysics
fails utterly in doing, and what even philosophy fails partially in doing,
revelation does; that is, affirms that this First Cause of science and
religion's God of salvation are one and the same Deity.

Some material presented
will contain links, quotes, ideologies, etc., the contents of which
should be understood to firstly, in their whole, reflect the views
or opinions of their editors, and secondly, are used in my personal
research as "fair
use" sources only, and not espousement one way
or the other. Truth seeking leads one all over the place...a piece
here, a piece there. As a seeker, I hunt, gather and disassemble resources,
trying to put all the pieces into a coherent and logical whole. I encourage
you to do the same. And please remember, these pages are only my effort
to collect all the pieces I can find and see if they properly fit into
the aggregate.

Theology -
the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God's attributes
and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious
truth; divinity.

The study of theology and its mother philosophy involves a search into
a variety of subjects and concepts. I'm bringing together a collection
of articles and writings in the following catagories that explore these
subjects and concepts as they relate to each other. Anyone who sets out
to learn what knowledge the theologians, philosophers and the writings
hold quickly finds history, religion, archaeology, myth, the cosmos and
ever present theory as their companions. Knowing something of our companions
helps us develope an informed philisophical, theological and spirutual
concept of Man's search for God and God's search for Man.

Judaism

Come and Hear- Meet the Talmud and the students of the Talmud — Three and a half million words of the uncensored Talmud on line, with discussions on its place in the modern world by Elizabeth Dilling, Rabbi Dr. J. H. Hertz, Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein, Rabbi Michael Rodkinson, Rabbi Israel Brodie, Rabbi Dr. Louis Finkelstein, and many other Talmud luminaries, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform — and your hostess, Carol A. Valentine. This website is inspired by Rabbi Professor Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, and to a lesser extent, the current President of the United States, George Bush. We are dedicated to bringing about understanding between people of different faiths.

Other Religion Interests

On September
13, 2010 the Center for Security Policy released the result
of months of analysis, discussion and drafting by a group
of top security policy experts concerned with the preeminent
totalitarian threat of our time: the legal-political-military
doctrine known within Islam as "shariah." It is
designed to provide a comprehensive and articulate "second
opinion" on the official characterizations and assessments
of this threat as put forth by the United States government.
This study challenges the assumptions underpinning the official
line in the conflict with today's totalitarian threat, which
is currently euphemistically described as "violent extremism," and
the policies of co-existence, accommodation and submission
that are rooted in those assumptions.

Review: "J," "P," "E," and "D" are
the names scholars have given to some authors of the Bible, and, as such,
they are very important letters to a lot of people. Churches have died
and been born, and millions of people have lost faith or found it, because
of the last two centuries of debate about who, exactly, wrote the canonical
texts of Christianity and Judaism. Richard Elliott Friedman's survey
of this debate, in Who Wrote the Bible?, may be the best written popular
book about this question. Without condescension or high-flown academic
language, Friedman carefully describes the history of textual criticism
of the Bible--a subject on which his authority is unparalleled (Friedman
has contributed voluminously to the authoritative Anchor Bible Dictionary).
But this book is not just smart. Perhaps even more impressive than Friedman's
erudition is his sensitivity to the power of textual criticism to influence
faith. --Michael Joseph Gross Paperback:
304 pages

Review: Dr. Robert Van Voorst, Professor of
New Testament Studies at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan,
has written frequently on theology and ministry in various noted journals.

ANTHOLOGY
OF WORLD SCRIPTURES is a comprehensive collection of scriptures from
the major world religions, including: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism,
Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam, as well as scriptures from more recent religious movements.
The text presents scripture readings in context, giving you a framework
that shows how each religion is actually practiced today, as well as
its history, teachings, organization, ethics and rituals. The readings
are supported by introductions, study questions, glossaries, and suggestions
for further reading, providing additional tools for review. Paperback:
400 pages

Visit the Book
List for a catalog of reference works designed to further our research
and broaden our spiritual and religious concepts.